Will lifting make me bulky? Fitness fads exposed

Healthista Expert

Healthista Expert

Posted February 07, 2018

It’s time to stop feeding on the fitness fads and myths that prevent us from reaching our weight loss goals. Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Exercise Sports Scientist, Annabelle Johnstone-Dougall, is here to expose common fitness fads

We can all hold our hand up high for having tried some kind of faddy diet or fitness regime promising your dream body and then feeling disappointed it hasn’t delivered the results we desired (sigh). Well don’t blame yourself if the scales aren’t budging, remember that saying, ‘if it seems to good to be true, it probably is’.

It only seemed right to find out what the top five fitness fads and myths are to help save yourselves from wasting hours in the gym, money and disappointment. This called for some expert advice from Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Exercise Sports Scientist, Annabelle Johnstone-Dougall in this five-part series revealing the fitness fads and myths not to fall for.

Fitness fad #3 – Lifting will make me bulky

‘Let’s clear this one up for good. Ladies, lifting weights a few times a week will not make you bulky. It takes serious commitment and dedication to gain significant muscle mass and even then we are working against our body’s high levels of oestrogen which make it difficult to build muscle in terms of size.With that in mind, what are the benefits of resistance style training for women?

Where do I even begin, apart from the obvious benefits such as gains in strength, fat loss and muscle tone, research also tells us that resistance training can increase your resting metabolic rate by 7% (which means yay more food). And in case you haven’t heard, exercise IS one of the most effective medicines, with resistance training assisting in the prevention and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and arthritis as well as cardiovascular diseases, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. But wait there’s more, with osteopenia and osteoporosis on the rise among women, it’s important to know that resistance training may promote bone development by maintaining or even increasing bone mineral density and just when you think it can’t get any better lifting weights has actually been shown to reverse specific aging factors in skeletal muscles.

Now that should definitely make you want to squat, curl and press. Moral of the story, get out there and lift like a girl’.

More fitness fads exposed:

Annabelle Johnstone-Dougall is an Australian Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Sports Scientist practising in London having completed her Honours degree at the University of Queensland in 2016. As an Exercise Physiologist, Annabelle focuses on the prescription of exercise as medicine for a wide variety of conditions including metabolic syndromes, weight loss, cardiorespiratory and renal complications, musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions, mental health issues, disability, cancer, and geriatric care. Having competed in both triathlon and cycling at a national level, Sports Science is also an area for which Annabelle always had an intense passion and has been involved with sports performance, rehabilitation and strength and conditioning across a variety of sub-elite and elite sports.

It’s time to stop feeding on the fitness fads and myths that prevent us from reaching our weight loss goals. Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Exercise Sports Scientist, Annabelle Johnstone-Dougall, is here to expose common fitness fads We can all hold

It’s time to stop feeding on the fitness fads and myths that prevent us from reaching our weight loss goals. Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Exercise Sports Scientist, Annabelle Johnstone-Dougall, is here to expose common fitness fads